This beautiful pastel painting demonstration is courtesy of Dan Gray. Thanks Dan for sharing another wonderful painting with us!
You can learn more about Dan and view more of his work at his website:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/dfgray/home.htm
September Sunflowers
From the garden into the studio
I had a extra sheet of Fabriano pastel paper in poppy red so tried the still life on this
Working on composition (placing the subject), light yellow pastel and light with my touch
Adding the lights without using my lightest colours, then working towards the dark
Further along trying to get the details and forms
Working with a heavier touch working the details and deepest dark, going deeper with my darks then my lightest light (but never using white)
Eliminated the window from the background and finding the details
Going deeper with all the values using deepest dark red and lightest pale yellow, dragging complimentary colour (blue greens) over the background to make the red poppy jump
September Sunflowers soft pastel 18 x 16″
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Jo Castillo on Tue, 25th Nov 2008 7:48 pm
This is great. I love the loose strokes but you still capture the feel and enough detail to keep us looking. I thought your name was familiar and then I went on down and found the demo of the car, then I knew it was you.
Nice work, as always.
Jo Castillo’s last blog post..Who Writes this Blog? Man or woman?
swapna mukherjee on Wed, 26th Nov 2008 3:42 am
dear artist
it has been wonderful going through your paintings and helping me to learn .i have been encouraged by your painting to start to learn and the way you have been giving guidance.i take this opportunity to thank you.
regards
swapna
black22 on Thu, 4th Dec 2008 7:28 am
did u use your fingers when u draw with pencils? very good picture.
Sofie on Sat, 29th May 2010 12:25 am
It’s really amazing to see a work of art develop step by step. You hardly believe that the work was done on poppy red paper when you look at the final image!
Jim on Mon, 23rd Aug 2010 4:33 pm
agree, very cool to see the transgression of your piece. I’m curious.. about how long does it take to produce a piece like this? Great work
Ron & Joann on Thu, 16th Dec 2010 8:16 pm
Yes thank you for sharing Dan. We will also go to your web site. Very nice.
Anita on Wed, 29th Jun 2011 8:24 am
This inspires me to continue doing pastel painting. I’ve tried it once but loses hope for I have no techniques then. Thanks for sharing your brilliant steps.